Report: Former Paris-Roubaix champion Sonny Colbrelli retires after suffering heart arrhythmia
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Sonny Colbrelli has retired from professional racing, reports Gazzetta dello Sport.
The Italian daily wrote on Saturday that former Paris-Roubaix champion Colbrelli has ended a career cut short by a heartbreaking health crisis.
The 32-year-old hasn’t raced since suffering cardiac arrest and collapsing moments after completing the opening leg of the Volta a Catalunya in March.
Representatives of Colbrelli’s Bahrain-Victorious team could not confirm gazzetta‘s reports when contacted by BikeNews This weekend.
The Italian was hospitalized after the shocking incident in Sant Feliu de Guíxols this spring. Tests later revealed that he had suffered from cardiac arrhythmia which in turn led to cardiorespiratory arrest.
Colbrelli was fitted with a heart-monitoring subcutaneous defibrillator and has since returned to occasional riding.
However, speculation has swirled about his professional racing future.
Analysis: After a health crisis, will Sonny Colbrelli run again?
Although the UCI has no formal policy on the matter, Italian law prohibits athletes from competing in elite sport if they have been fitted with a defibrillator. Colbrelli was studying the possibility of racing under the Swiss flag in a bid to circumvent his Italian ban.
“I will speak with my team to find out if it is possible to come back. My dream is to get back on the bike. Its important to me. It’s not easy, it’s tough but for sure I’m going to try,” Colbrelli said in May. “I’m super motivated.”
Colbrelli had just come out of a mid-career tear when he crashed out in Spain.
The Bahrain-Victorious captain won the October 2021 Paris-Roubaix splattered in mud, and before that he beat Remco Evenepoel for the European title at the zenith of what was the best season of his career.
“It’s my happiest moment, my dream was to win a monument,” Colbrelli said after winning the cobblestone trophy. “The first classic of my dreams was the Tour of Flanders, and Paris-Roubaix was second… and I won Paris-Roubaix.”
Stay tuned BikeNews for updates on this story.
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